June 17th
by Kuro4checkmate
Summary: It's the same every year, but this year is a little different.


A/N: A little oneshot for June 17th. A more introspective view of chapters 17 through 25.

Ironically, it's raining where I am right now.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

* * *

June 17th

* * *

It's the same every year. On the evening of the sixteenth of June, their father calls a family meeting. He acts like his usual idiotic self and assigns them jobs – each job has a new, ridiculous, name every year, but they always end up being delegated the same responsibilities. The meeting is over quickly – there was never much to discuss in the first place – and they all head to their rooms to sleep.

Ichigo lies awake, late into the night and tries not to think about anything at all. If he thinks too much about it, he knows that when he finally does fall asleep, the nightmare will return. He has successfully shut out the nightmare for a good four years now and he has no plans to ever have it again. As always, this year he achieves his goal and just past midnight, falls into a dreamless sleep.

―

But this year is a little different. This year, Rukia watches silently from the closet as Ichigo drifts off to sleep. Rukia lies awake for a long while that night, pondering on what Ichigo has told her. His mother was murdered? Rukia goes through all the possible scenarios in her head, but concludes that she was most likely killed by a Hollow. Especially if Ichigo's spiritual pressure was anywhere near as large back then as it is now. He must have always looked a tasty treat to the Hollows and it's amazing that he has survived to the age of fifteen.

Rukia sighs. Just knowing that Ichigo is a prime target for Hollows means that she cannot give him the day off that he requests. She will have to follow him to the cemetery tomorrow. Hopefully he does not get too angry with her. Not that she cares. It would just be less of a hassle.

* * *

It's the same every year. After waking up early in the morning, their father excuses them all from school, Yuzu prepares their lunch, and they walk to the cemetery. They always take the same route. At the end of the route is a large hill. Ichigo ignores Isshin making a fool of himself as he tries to motivate Yuzu – not that she needs it – and Karin kicks him all the way back to the bottom of the hill.

―

But this year is a little different. This year, Rukia waits for him at the top of the hill. Ichigo nearly has a heart attack when his little sisters point her out. What the heck is she doing here? He gives his family an excuse and runs up to meet her.

They talk until Rukia accuses a Hollow of being the one that killed his mother. Ichigo cannot accept that, so he screams at her. It was not a Hollow that killed his mother. It was himself. _He_ is the the one that killed his mother and there is absolutely no way that he will accept some supernatural explanation of her death. Ichigo refuses to blame a Hollow for what he did.

But then he sees her. The girl from that day, the one who stood by the river. And Ichigo just can't take it anymore. What is _she_ doing here? Has she come back to torment him and remind him of his failures? He runs after her, tries _so_ _hard_ to catch her, just so that he can know for sure. Who is this girl? Is she really a ghost? Did he really waste his mother's life to try and rescue a _ghost_ from drowning?

He doesn't catch her. She disappears and all Ichigo can do is collapse in anguish.

There, on the path through the trees, he confesses his guilt to Rukia.

* * *

It's the same every year. The rain is always there. Whether that rain falls from the cloud covered sky or from Yuzu's eyes, it is always present on June 17th. Ichigo places the incense next to his mother's grave, thinks about the day she died, and knows that somewhere in the cemetery, Yuzu is crying.

―

But this year is a little different. This year, Yuzu and Karin do not come running when Dad's obnoxious whistle is blown.

This year, a Hollow comes with the rain.

Ichigo senses the Hollow and immediately rushes off in its direction – Yuzu and Karin could be in danger – leaving Isshin to wonder what is going on. He runs into Rukia on the way there.

He is tense at first, certain that she is going to ask him what he meant before about killing his mother, but she doesn't. Instead, she tells him that she isn't going to ask, tells him that she doesn't have a means of asking without stepping all over his feelings, and that when he is ready to talk, she will listen. It is the best thing she could have said in that moment. It helps.

It helps _a lot_.

And he knows that when he finally is ready to talk, Rukia will be the first person he talks to.

Kon interrupts then, being his horribly perverted self, but neither of them have time to be annoyed at him for long because they have almost arrived at the Hollow's location. Hearing his sisters scream, seeing Yuzu choking in the grasp of the Hollow, Ichigo nearly jumps into battle while still in his body. Rukia holds him back though and in one swift movement, shoves his soul out of his body and towards the Hollow.

Ichigo jumps forwards, swinging his oversized katana, once, twice, freeing both Karin and Yuzu, and tucking them safely under his arm. He deposits them behind a boulder and returns to the fight. And then he notices.

There is a girl standing by the Hollow. But not just any girl. _The_ girl. The one by the river six years ago. What is she doing with the Hollow? Is she its minion? Is she being controlled?

But both are wrong and he watches in horror as her face splits in two and she becomes the Hollow's lure.

Rukia's voice breaks through his shock, announcing the Hollow's name – Grand Fisher – and telling him what he needs to know. And then Ichigo's brain puts it together. Rukia is right. It _was_ a Hollow that killed his mother. Of course, he is still to blame for falling for its trap, but it is a Hollow that did the actual killing.

And now, he has the power to kill it.

So he attacks. Rukia screams for him to stop, tells him it's dangerous and moves to help him fight.

He tells her to go away, tells her to go help Karin and Yuzu. This is _his_ fight and no one else's. He refuses to have her help him with this one.

So she leaves. And he fights. The Hollow taunts him, telling him he is slow. The more the Hollow taunts and the more he is injured, the angrier Ichigo gets. This is the Hollow that killed his mother and he is going to kill it, no matter what it takes.

Ichigo is completely unprepared, however, for what the Hollow does next. The lure dangles in front of him and all of a sudden, Ichigo is staring at the face of his mother.

The lure speaks with his mother's voice and even though he knows it is not her, he cannot cut it – just as Grand Fisher says. The next thing Ichigo knows, one of Grand Fisher's claws has rammed straight through the lure and impaled him in the stomach.

The Hollow begins to gloat, but this is what Ichigo has been waiting for. Now Grand Fisher can't run away. He lifts his oversized katana and stabs it straight into the Hollow's shoulder.

Throwing Grand Fisher's words back in his face, he rips his Zanpakutou out, tearing off the Hollow's arm and giving it a sizable enough wound that it will soon die. Grand Fisher screams and Ichigo fights to stay standing as the last wound the Hollow gave him takes its toll.

It begins to rain.

Someone calls his name. He realizes belatedly that Rukia has come back. She calls him a fool, but he knows she doesn't really mean it. And then, Grand Fisher isn't dead. The Hollow attempts one more attack on Ichigo before its main body is sucked up into the lure and it escapes.

Ichigo tries to follow, but his wounds are too great and he collapses.

* * *

It's the same every year. Ichigo stands before his mother's grave, and his father makes an absolute fool of himself.

Isshin smokes one cigarette.

―

But this year is a little different. This year, Ichigo and Isshin talk. Ichigo has to know. Why does no one blame him? Why does Isshin not hate him?

And Isshin tells him – like it's the most obvious thing in the world – that there's no point in blaming him because it's no one's fault that Masaki died. Tells him that Masaki would be angry with him if he were to blame Ichigo and that Masaki was the kind of woman that would die for her son. And as the rain stops and Isshin walks away, he tells Ichigo to die smiling.

It is then that Ichigo speaks to Rukia, asks her to let him remain a Shinigami for a while longer. Tells her he wants to get stronger and that one day, he will defeat Grand Fisher so that he can face his mother.

And Rukia agrees.

* * *

It's the same every year.

The rain is always there.

Whether that rain falls from the cloud covered sky or from Yuzu's eyes, it is always present on June 17th.

The rain is always there.

But maybe next year, there won't be any.


End file.
